How brave Westfield Bondi Junction retail workers saved a baby girl’s life as her mother lay dying

EXCLUSIVE

Traumatized retail workers who heroically saved a nine-month-old baby have broken down in tears as they bravely returned to the site of the Bondi stabbing for the first time since the horror attack.

Ashlee Good, 38, threw her injured baby into the arms of strangers inside the Tommy Hilfiger store in Sydney’s Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon, pleading with them to save her daughter’s life, despite being critically injured herself.

Using clothing from the store to stem the bleeding, customers and staff worked desperately to stabilize the pair until emergency services arrived at the scene.

The little girl is currently in a serious but stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery, but despite the best efforts of bystanders and paramedics, her mother later died in hospital.

Tommy Hilfiger employees, along with workers from sister company Calvin Klein, gathered Monday morning at the memorial in the Oxford Street mall to honor the victims of the attack.

The group could be seen hugging each other as they broke down in tears after laying bouquets of flowers on the ground.

The head of Calvin Klein told TheWSTNews Australia that Tommy Hilfiger staff had worked to save the baby and her mother’s life by collecting clothes from around the store and helping to compress their wounds.

Shortly after leaving the memorial site, these members of the group could be seen hugging each other while sitting on a wooden bench and sobbing.

“It’s still pretty raw for them,” she said.

The stores, both owned by parent company PVH Corp, are located on level four, but on opposite sides of the centre.

When chaos broke out on Saturday, both stores were closed.

Two brothers who were at the Tommy Hilfiger store helping to rescue the baby described their ordeal moments after being evacuated from the center on Saturday to a Channel Nine journalist live on air.

“The child was stabbed and yes, the mother was stabbed,” one brother said.

‘The mother came over with the child and threw it at me.

‘I just helped by holding the baby … and trying to compress the baby.’

The manager said she arranged for staff from the two stores to meet so they could support each other as they went back to the scene of the tragedy.

She said she did not work on Saturdays but was ‘so proud’ of her team who acted quickly to pile on shoppers.

“KJ, here,” she said, gently patting another visibly upset woman on the back, “looking after everyone and getting them to safety.”

A Calvin Klein employee said she was on break when chaos began to unfold.

“I was walking through the center and I was on the phone and thought it was funny, people were running,” she said.

‘Then suddenly I saw people hiding in shops and heard screams and gunshots.’

Asked how it felt to be back on site, she said “weird”.

‘It’s really scary. You feel a bit on edge by being out in public.’

While a reopening date for the center has yet to be announced, workers and shoppers have now been allowed access to collect their cars after police closed the scene on Monday.

As the group left, one worker – whose car was still parked at Westfield – could be seen preparing for the daunting task of re-entering the building to retrieve his vehicle.

Police were called to the busy mall at 3.20pm on Saturday – the first day of the school holidays – after Joel Cauchi, a 40-year-old with schizophrenia, began massacring shoppers with a hunting knife, killing six and injuring at least a dozen others.

Footage posted online shows the chaos and terror that erupted as shoppers fled for their lives and ran through the center while others sought shelter in locked shops.

Inspector Amy Scott was patrolling nearby and was first on the scene. She entered the mall alone and bravely ran towards the assailant before shooting and killing him when he lunged at her with the knife.

Advertising heiress Dawn Singleton, 25, architect Jade Young, 47, artist Pikria Darchia, 55, security guard Faraz Tahir, 30, and Chinese student Yixuan Cheng, 27, died at the scene.

Twelve others – including Ms Good and her daughter – were rushed to hospitals across Sydney in various conditions.

While the investigation is still in its early stages, police have revealed Cauchi was originally from Queensland but moved to Sydney about a month ago.

He had long-term mental health problems after being diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 17, with authorities working to determine what level of care he had received and whether he had fallen through cracks in the mental health system.

Cauchi lived a transient lifestyle and was believed to have been sleeping rough in Sydney.

He is believed to have not been in regular contact with his family and to have been off his medication.

On Monday, NSW Premier Chris Minns announced $18 million in funding for an independent coronial inquiry into Saturday’s tragedy.